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Friday, October 31, 2014

There may be limitless variation on life among thesextillionor soplanets, but we're limited by our human schema when
envisioning what it might look like. We necessarily conceive of the greater
sentient universe in terms of earthly society, as that's our only reference
point.

Films, writings, and interviews on the extraterrestrial more
often involve encounters with predatory monsters because those vicious aliens
are a projected fear that foreign life forms resemble humanity at its worst.
It's easiest to imagine astronauts being shot down and vivisected in an
outer-space operating chamber since that's just what our institutions would do
if the ship were on the other shore.

In here and out there, wepose the most consistent threat to
ourselves.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

How would we feel if other creatures saw us as amusing
mannequins around which to drape, bundle, and tie humiliating apparel made in their image? What if a peacock stuck a flashy accordion fan to your backside
without asking? Or if a kangaroo glued a hairy pocket on your stomach? Claustrophobics, be thankful you don't belong
to a turtle or a hermit crab.

Put yourself in their scales, feathers, and fur. Pugs already
resemble chewed gum, so spare them the tinseled Christmas sweater with matching
sleigh-bell cuffs announcing their every googly-eyed entrance.And all those cats persecuted on Easter, enduring the
indignity of being dressed and photographed as another animal that is both
cuter and lower on the food chain.

If I were a pet with a festive, childless owner, I'd be
under the bed waiting the holidays out like a passing storm.

Friday, October 3, 2014

Nothing against adolescence―it's a bridge to adulthood we all must cross―but tweens and teens are not fully developed beings. By
simple fact of a shorter life, they find novelty in cliché, depth in
shallowness. They're forgivably whim over wisdom and are entitled to a learning
curve.

The trouble is that their
demographic has the most disposable income, and companies have seized on this.

So the airwaves ring with
formulaic edginess around impotent anthems of pseudo-revolution. Movie screens
burst with explosions and costumes in place of plot and character development.
Supermarkets teem with highlighter-colored drinks and snacks engineered to
nourish cartoon characters.

With so much censored substance, where are the casual opportunities for personal betterment?
How do you bring about a society of healthy, whole people when the
majority are reared on sugar and emptiness? In part, our cultural
collapse will come from gauging the success of industry by how well it appeases
the impulses of those who can barely grow pubic hair.